Information about and adventures on a Montgomery 17

Category: boat maintenance

Trailers are very different ‘beasts’ than their tow vehicles. Their moving parts – axle, wheels, hubs, lighting get abused through through the multiple dunkings in water … the worse offender being saltwater … and neglect. As a result it is up to you as a trailer owner to keep a close eye on your boat’s ‘road wheels’. In this post I’ll be covering trailer hubs. … More Safer trailering – hubs

Besides the joy of going down memory lane and reading old entries, information noted about how the boat sailed, anchorages, weather patterns, etc. are great resources for future voyages. Keeping track of items needing attention when back home is also helpful … this was especially helpful after the first sea trails conducted on AIR BORN in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. … More Keeping a ship’s log

As Spring has come I am touching up AIR BORN’s rudder & tiller varnish. Sage 17 and Montomery 15 owners, as the rudder design is the same, will find this post helpful in doing rudder and tiller maintenance on their boats. … More Spring commissioning – rudder and tiller

Oil is a simple and easy solution that works very well. The #1 thing to do is keep up the oil treatments so the teak doesn’t begin to weather. I didn’t do a great job of keeping AIR BORN’s teak oiled and as a result I needed to put some extra effort into getting it ‘ship shape‘. If AIR BORN’s teak had been treated with varnish, or ‘a varnish-like product, the job of getting the teak looking good would have taken over a week (best case) or more than two weeks. Because I use oil the task was competed in just over three hours. … More Spring commissioning – cleaning teak

‘E15’ refers to the percentage of ethanol in the gas. Most of us are using E10 in our cars & trucks. A few weeks ago I discussed outboard motor care and touched on the topic of ethanol in gasoline … More E15 Gas

For a new boat, or a boat that has never been bottom painted, the first step is ‘shooting the waterline‘. There are many ways to do this: water hose method, string and a level, or a laser level. These all assume you know where the waterline should be … not always obvious when the boat is brand new. … More Antifouling bottom paint – the waterline

If you plan on leaving your boat in the water for an extended period of time applying antifouling bottom paint to you boat required (usually). Most locations will result in bottom growth after a few weeks, though there are exceptions. … More Antifouling bottom paint: selecting bottom paint